THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NARRATOR: Previously on Chicagoland:

RAHM EMANUEL (D), MAYOR OF CHICAGO: The city of Chicago is the most American of American cities.

ELIZABETH DOZIER, PRINCIPAL, FENGER HIGH SCHOOL: You have officially graduated from high school.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There ain't nothing but love out here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More than 1,000 people have been shot in Chicago this country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The whole country is watching Chicago at the tipping point.

EMANUEL: It's Rahm. Give me a call back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You certainly -- you still enjoy the mayor's confidence?

GARRY MCCARTHY, CHICAGO POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: Is the A.C. working in this place or am I having a stroke?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the summer, this is not the exception, this the rule.

DOZIER: I have had kids shot over the summer. I can't wait for the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) to be over.

NARRATOR: Every summer, young people flock to Chicago for its vibrant music scene and some of the best music festivals in the world. Even the mayor squeezes a concert or two into his busy schedule.

EMANUEL: What's the first date?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What?

EMANUEL: Yes. I'm going to be in town, right? Because I want to go see...

NARRATOR: And yes, Rahm did find some time to get down at the Taste of Chicago. The summer concert season crescendos with Lollapalooza. And this year, one rising star on the bill is a South Side kid from Chatham, Chance the Rapper.

CHANCE THE RAPPER, MUSICIAN: Say Chicago!

AUDIENCE: Chicago!

CHANCE: Say Chicago!

AUDIENCE: Chicago!

CHANCE: Say Chicago!

AUDIENCE: Chicago!

NARRATOR: For Chance, leading up to his Lollapalooza debut, there's a lot at stake.

CHANCE: My entire reputation as an artist, the reputation of Chicago as a music movement, my finances, my pride.

NARRATOR: Maybe chance could take a few pointers from this guy.

COMMON, MUSICIAN: Chicago has something to offer. It's so much talent here. Like, Chance the Rapper is building himself up by his artistry, his work.

NARRATOR: Grammy Award-winning hip-hop star Common grew up in the same neighborhood as Chance. And now that he's made it big, he refuses to turn his back on his hometown.

COMMON: It's an honor to be in Chicago, the place I'm most proud to say that I'm from, because this city is so beautiful, the city is so powerful. The city is so soulful. I know what Chicago has done to shape me, to culture me, and to develop me. What goes along with that is a responsibility.

NARRATOR: For young people, Chicago is a city of two summers. One is a celebration, and the other has too many funerals.

MCCARTHY: We haven't had the same success recently that we had earlier in the year. But the shooting incidents are still going in the right direction.

NARRATOR: July got off to a bloody start. But by mid-month, Superintendent McCarthy and the Chicago Police Department has the city back on track to a safer summer than 2012. To stay on track, he's counting on all the help he can get from city youth programs that keep kids off the street.

COMMON: Everywhere I go now, people know about the violence that's been going on with Chicago with our youth. They always ask, well, what are you doing to stop the violence? I always suggest programs, programs like what we do with Common Ground.

NARRATOR: Common and Magic Johnson each have mentoring programs aimed at helping at-risk kids in Chicago.

EARVIN "MAGIC" JOHNSON, FORMER NBA PLAYER: We have graduating classes and we have students in college already.

NARRATOR: Many pro sports stars have programs for kids, like south suburban native Dwyane Wade.

DWYANE WADE, NBA PLAYER: I think people deserve second chances. We only got one life to live and none of us know when that departure date is coming. So go ahead and try to be special.

NARRATOR: NBA legend Isiah Thomas grew up in Chicago, and now he's back working with Mayor Emanuel on Windy City Hoops, a program that aims to keep kids on the court and out of trouble.

ISIAH THOMAS, FORMER NBA PLAYER: Ninety-five percent of all communities, they're good kids and they're good people that are trying to do the right thing. And there's a small 5 percent that we talk about, we read about and we hear about, but what you don't hear about is the violence that is stopped before it happens.

EMANUEL: Hey, guys. How are you, man? Nice to see you. If this wasn't here tonight, what would you be doing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't even know, to tell you the truth.

EMANUEL: Oh, yes? Bad?

This is the greatest job I have ever had. I could use a break, but it's never -- it's nonstop 24-7, but it's the greatest job I have ever had. But there are days in which you see a 5-year-old shot in a park. They are looking at guys in jail. I swear to God. I'm like what the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) are you doing?

NARRATOR: After a Windy City Hoops game, there was one kid who caught the mayor's attention.

MARTELL COWAN, HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: I was at Columbus Park playing basketball when I got a chance to meet the mayor of basketball. And he said hi, and I just got to talking to him general conversation, like how he become the mayor and is it hard being the mayor?

EMANUEL: I got talking to this young man, Martell. And he was so engaging.

COWAN: He just asked me where I was going. I said, I was leaving for home, so he told me he will take me home. And he called my mom, and it's been history ever since.

EMANUEL: He's a wonderful kid. There's something about his personality, and I'm taken with it. And I'm trying to help him knuckle down and buckle down for college.

NARRATOR: Now Martell works in the mayor's office, where he gets mentored by the boss himself.

COWAN: Before this, I really didn't have too many opportunities.

EMANUEL: You got your tie on? What, did you get dressed up for the book delivery? Summer reading.

Taking it day by day, because I still can't believe that this stuff has happened. My responsibilities here at the City Hall is to take the mail and file it in the computers and in the cabinets. I'm grateful for it, me and my homey.

NARRATOR: These are the dog days of summer. And down on the South Side, folks do everything they can to cool off.

Principal Liz Dozier keeps Fenger High School open during the summer and offers a variety of programs aimed at keeping kids focused by learning.

DOZIER: Are you going to the jobs things?

NARRATOR: And safely away from street violence.

DOZIER: Part of our goal is to keep them inside with school programs.

Timothy, good job. We're proud of you. I can have it and put it on my wall?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

DOZIER: If you want to make a difference, you have to intervene at the earliest point. And I think the reality is, kids get lost.

I never really thought about why I feel really passionate about the kids and the work. But I realize that my dad is the deeper connection. He had like a really tumultuous childhood, very similar to the students. And he wound up with the wrong group of people, and I think that's what landed him in jail.

I wish someone would have given my dad the same supports that we're trying to give the students at Fenger, because I think he could have led a different life.

NARRATOR: Liz's father isn't behind bars anymore, but some of her former students are. She refuses to give up on these kids, like Jason Barrett.

JASON BARRETT, FORMER FENGER STUDENT: I'm in here for robbery. I went to Fenger. Principal Dozier has really been helping me out. She's buying me books to read. She comes to see me every time she gets a chance. And she always just keep my spirits up and tell me, like, everything is going to be OK and she still believe in me.

Hey, Ms. Dozier.

DOZIER: Hey, how are you doing?

BARRETT: I'm OK. I was just thinking about you, Ms. Dozier. I think I'm ready for society again.

DOZIER: I know.

(CROSSTALK)

BARRETT: I will get out and then I want to show you that I -- that I want to be successful.

DOZIER: Well, you have to come for the play. You ain't court on the 10th, right?

NARRATOR: Liz has been talking to a judge about getting Jason out early, but she's worried about him returning to Roseland during the summer.

DOZIER: I want to have a really solid plan for when you come out. All those same temptations are still going to be there.

BARRETT: Yes.

DOZIER: Really think about, what is your plan going to be?

BARRETT: OK.

DOZIER: OK?

NARRATOR: Jason hopes to get out of jail soon, because every day on the inside presents its own risk.

BARRETT: This is hell. We're taught to be ruthless. It's crazy. This ain't no correctional place. This (EXPLETIVE DELETED) make you corrupt. You come in here a little criminal. By the time you leave, you graduate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COWAN: So, what do you do for fun?

EMANUEL: I love reading. I love going outside and biking. And then I like hanging out with my kids. Like a Sunday night, I took them to Shakespeare in the park. They were, dad. And then they had to admit you had fun.

That's what I like. What about you?

COWAN: Just going to City Hoops, man.

EMANUEL: You love that, don't you?

COWAN: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

EMANUEL: Do you think you can teach a Jewish mayor to dunk?

(LAUGHTER) EMANUEL: It's too hard, huh?

COWAN: No, I cannot.

(LAUGHTER)

NARRATOR: This summer, the mayor's personal mission is to keep Martell on track and out of trouble.

EMANUEL: Do you know what our project is for the fall?

COWAN: What's that?

EMANUEL: I'm going to get you serious about your test scores and getting going. I ain't messing with this. You got to get the test score so we can get to college, so they can use this and really grow exponentially. All right? So what else are you doing?

COWAN: Like, a lot of females starting to really know who I am.

EMANUEL: Are you serious?

COWAN: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

EMANUEL: Come on. We're going to do a little walk.

COWAN: Yes?

EMANUEL: Get on that side, yes.

Hey, guys, how are you?

Those girls, man, you could have made a move there.

(LAUGHTER)

COWAN: No.

(LAUGHTER)

EMANUEL: Do we have to come out to Columbus Park to help you one more time, a little assist, huh?

COWAN: If you want to, that would be a blessing.

NARRATOR: Outside the metro, the sold-out crowd lines up to see Chicago's latest hip-hop phenom, Chance the Rapper as he kicks off his Acid Rap tour.

(MUSIC)

ANDREW BARBER, FOUNDER, FAKESHOREDRIVE.COM: This is the hottest city for hip-hop right now, period.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really?

BARBER: Like, 12 guys got signed to major label deals last year.

(CROSSTALK)

BARBER: And so -- and even more and more. Every week, it seems like somebody new is popping up.

NARRATOR: Andrew Barber has his finger on the pulse of Chicago's rap music scene.

BARBER: Kanye, Twista, Common, Chief Keef. Since then, I think the biggest star to emerge is Chance the Rapper.

CHANCE: The Chicago hip-hop scene, it is very chill right now, you understand, especially in comparison to like the way Chicago is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got a lot that's going on in Chicago right now, a lot of murders. So, let me ask you, you got a gun?

CHANCE: Like, I'm not (EXPLETIVE DELETED) to promote violence or to promote having a gun, but I know what the situation is, you understand, and it's very real.

NARRATOR: And for Chance, it's all too real. His pal Kevin Ambrose was gunned down in the spring.

KEN BENNETT, FATHER OF CHANCE: I remember waking up that morning, and Chance was pretty upset. And I asked him what happened. And he told me, he said, Kevin got killed last night. There are a lot of challenges they're facing, and I'm concerned about Chance every day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Columbia College student Kevin Ambrose had a heart of gold and a bright future, according to one teacher, but he's the latest victim of gun violence on the streets of Chicago.

NARRATOR: Kevin was in the wrong place at the wrong time. At 11:00 p.m., he was waiting for a friend at the 47th Street L Station when a gunman got out of his car and started shooting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kevin ran northbound through a vacant lot as he was getting shot at.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ultimately, where he was found was just ahead of us about 25 feet or so. And that's where -- that's where he died at.

EBONY AMBROSE, MOTHER OF MURDER VICTIM: I just heard knocking at my bedroom door. And I opened the door, and it's his friend telling me, you have to come on, because Kevin was shot. You need to hurry up, because it doesn't look good.

I would like to be one of those people that talks about forgiveness. This piece of (EXPLETIVE DELETED) can rot in hell.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New charges have just been filed in the death of a Columbia College student. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say this man, 26-year-old JEROME BROWN, is in custody, charged in that shooting.

NARRATOR: The man accused of killing Kevin Ambrose is 26-year-old Jerome Brown, a repeat felon who was released just 10 months into an eight-year sentence for aggravated burglary...

MCCARTHY: He served less than one year of his eight-year sentence, and a few months after being paroled, he murdered somebody. Folks, this couldn't be any clearer. This individual should not have been on the streets, and the result was, he murdered somebody, not a criminal, an innocent person.

NARRATOR: Now Jerome Brown is back in Cook County Jail, awaiting trial on murder charges.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The detainees are placed right over there. We process them right over here.

THOMAS J. DART, COOK COUNTY SHERIFF: How many do we have today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sixteen right now today.

DART: So we're at 470 this morning?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four hundred and seventy.

NARRATOR: The Cook County Jail is the largest single-site jail in the country, and it's overcrowded.

DART: We have a population that hovers between 10,000 and 11,000 people a day.

NARRATOR: Sheriff Tom Dart is in charge. He has to determine whether inmates pose a risk or if they're ready to be rehabilitated.

DART: I have no delusions about some of the characters I have in that jail. Some of them, the best thing we could do for our society is to make sure they never see another human in their life.

The majority of people in that jail are fixable, though. And so with what limited resources and time I have, we're working on them.

NARRATOR: Liz visits Cook County Jail to see former Fenger student Jason Barrett. One thing she's learned from her own family experience is that people can change while they're in jail.

DOZIER: My mom around like 18 joined the convent, where she stayed for almost 20 years. And she met my dad. He was in Cook County Jail and she was doing like some ministering and stuff there. And then they built this 14-year relationship.

She kind of followed him around. She would visit him, and she eventually left the convent because she got pregnant with me. And at that point, she's got to go. She's a pregnant nun. Not only are you leaving the convent, but you're going to marry an African-American man who happens to be in jail. When I was born, it was hard. They didn't have much money. They didn't really even have a cradle for me. They had like this drawer you pull out.

My dad got out of prison probably when I was like around 5 and he was around up until the point when I was like 13. I believe that there's hope for all of our kids. Everyone has potential inside themselves, even Jason.

NARRATOR: Liz got invited to be a guest at this rather unusual stop the violence rally, performed by inmates inside a Cook County Jail special rehab unit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We see every day pain, despair, self-pity and hopelessness. Many of us in this room may have even had our hand in this madness. It's not too late to stop the violence.

INMATES: It's not too late!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a special guest, Ms. Dozier, the principal of Fenger High School.

(APPLAUSE)

DOZIER: Thank you for welcoming me here today and for allowing me to experience this with you.

Harness this. Use this to move and change your life forward, because within each of you, you have the capacity to choose. It's your life. You only get one shot. That's it. Please continue to push forward. Know that you are supported. I really appreciate the inspiration. So thank you.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARC SMITH, POET: Welcome to the show, folks. This is the original slam. There are slams all over the world. They all began with this show. And I'm the guy that started this show. My name is Marc Smith.

NARRATOR: Chicago's always been a city of great writers, from Carl Sandburg to Gwendolyn Brooks and Nelson Algren to Students Terkel. They all had this radical notion that the common man deserves a voice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When Rahm Emanuel was a boy, all he wanted to do was dance.

NARRATOR: Marc Smith took that idea one step further when he created slam poetry. SMITH: That this changes people's lives. It's not passive. It's not a museum. Oh, I like it. Ooh. Chicagoans do not put up with the bull. They will heckle you right off the stage.

SMITH: Here is a tall, bold, slug-fisted hate of a city, set vivid against the little soft cities. This is a dog lapping for action, cunning as a savage, pitted against the wilderness, bare-headed shoveling, wrecking, planning, building, rebuilding under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth under the terrible burden of destiny, laughing as a young man laughs.

Show me where we're going now. Show me our proud new destiny.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

NARRATOR: Being a wordsmith takes serious dedication. Chance the Rapper got his start in high school, playing tiny stages like the (INAUDIBLE) and even public libraries.

(MUSIC)

NARRATOR: It's the same place friends and fellow performers came to mourn the murder of Chance's friend, Kevin Ambrose.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You came together as a positive force right now, right here today, Kevin Ambrose's night. Rest in peace. His murderer said that he just felt like killing somebody that night. It could have been any one of us, man.

NARRATOR: Growing up, Kevin and Chance performed at after-school programs like this. While Chance was at the studio recording "Acid Rap," Kevin was killed on the South Side.

So many senseless shootings in Chicago inspired Chance's latest work, his most personal song, "Paranoia."

CHANCE: It's about the people that are affected beyond the two people that have a confrontation. And it's really just about putting the death of a young innocent person in front of a bunch of people's faces.

(MUSIC)

CHANCE: RIP, Kevin.

(APPLAUSE)

CHANCE: Everybody in this room is lucky to be alive right now.

NARRATOR: Out on the street, kids face a lot of pressure to join gangs and tote guns. The mayor and Superintendent McCarthy check in on the youth empowerment program called One Summer Plus. It targets at-risk kids and has pretty good success keeping them out of trouble.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm checking in today physically feeling blessed. Intellectually, I'm feeling good about going to college this fall. And, spiritually, I'm connected with the ones that ain't with me today. And with that, I'm checking in.

MCCARTHY: Man, I'm going to sound like I'm complaining physically.

(LAUGHTER)

MCCARTHY: My back hurts. My neck hurts. Intellectually, I'm thinking about how I'm going to cram 26 hours into 24 hours. Emotionally, I'm happy, because I have got the greatest job in the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Physically, I'm feeling real good. Intellectually, I'm so anxious because I can't wait to go to college now in the state of Wyoming for a basketball scholarship.

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Emotionally, I just think today is a good opportunity, because today is the third time me meeting the mayor face to face. And he may not recognize me, but...

EMANUEL: I do remember me, so don't get -- seeing you getting back on track, going to college. Let's be honest. You were on the wrong track. You got yourselves back on the right track.

So nothing energized me more than you guys getting a second chance and not wasting it, being responsible.

These are really hardened kids. They didn't take some candy from a corner store. They don't have to given a chance. They have got to earn a chance and keep it. Too much happens as, like, we owe them. That's not true. They owe themselves something. And if you show the willingness to be responsible and accountable, then we should actually step up. But we don't owe anybody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, let's take a look at question number one. It says, problem just carry on over from childhood and youth.

NARRATOR: At Cook County Jail, former Fenger student Jason Barrett attends programs that him ready him for life back in Roseland.

BARRETT: I first started smoking, and I started gangbanging, and it ain't do nothing but lead up to just being -- being in jail at... UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How old are you?

BARRETT: Twenty years old.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You finish high school?

BARRETT: I just finished last year. She saw something in me. What's crazy, I didn't see nothing in me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's say they open the gates up tomorrow, you walk out, hit the street. What's the main issue that you need to overcome?

BARRETT: Just learn how to say no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Statistics show ex-cons have trouble staying out of jail. The majority of them end up back behind bars.

DOZIER: You get out of jail, you no longer have your services that you've had. You have no job. It's easy to fall back in the same trap.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Liz works with Jason's public defender and the judge in this case to try to get him out early, but also she wants to make sure there's a plan for Jason when he's released.

DOZIER: His attorney was very nice. He's a public defender. I think he's spending too much time on this kid. But I'm thinking of his long-term success so he's not back in the prison system, like, six months from now.

I'm like, can the judge maybe work with him on like a halfway house? And the judge said to me, he said, "Let me be clear. The only reason I'm giving him another shot is because you're here," because he was facing 14 to 15 years in jail.

BARRETT: My judge is real happy. "As long as I've been sitting on the bench, I never saw a person what Ms. Dozier did." God helped me, too. It was God and Ms. Dozier.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today, Jason is going home.

BARRETT: Big Money Shawn. I told you it's over today. I can't stay with you. We're going to get up in the real world, son.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're all good to go.

BARRETT: Which way do I go? Oh, hey, thank you, Ms. Dozier.

DOZIER: How are you doing?

BARRETT: It's a blessing.

DOZIER: Are you ready?

BARRETT: Thank you, Ms. Dozier. DOZIER: Come on.

BARRETT: I saw you in court, too. I didn't want to look around, but I saw you.

DOZIER: This is summer. There's already conflicts in the neighborhood, so I think it's not going to be all easy. You know, people are going to try to pull you back in. When they try to pull you back in, Jason, you've got to remember, like this is it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The start of August, Chicago gears up for its biggest music festival, Lollapalooza. Lolla got its start in 1991, the brainchild of eccentric Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell. It began as a weird musical circus that traveled from town to town, headlined by Rage Against the Machine, the Beastie Boys and Smashing Pumpkins. And most recently Lady Gaga and Kanye West.

In 2005, Lollapalooza took its show off the road and pitched a permanent tent under the Chicago skyline in Grant Park.

PERRY FARRELL, CREATOR OF LOLLAPALOOZA: Everyone is always saying, why did we choose Chicago? This was a two-way street. You don't just walk in and choose Chicago. You kind of choose each other.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This year everybody is talking about a new artist on the Lollapalooza bill, Chance the Rapper.

CHANCE THE RAPPER, HIP-HOP ARTIST: There's a lot of Chicago influence I put into the music; soul, jazz influence, rock influence, gospel (ph) music, just a lot of sounds that stem from Chicago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For Chicago, Lollapalooza is more than a rock concert. Over three days every summer, it pumps more than $120 million into the local economy.

On the main stage in 2012, Mayor Emanuel announced plans to use Lollapalooza to bring 100 of the brightest computer science and engineering graduates to Chicago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So they're spending more time at Lollapalooza than they are in Chicago?

EMANUEL: You got it, man. That's the marketing idea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the tech hub 1871, the mayor welcomes them. Along with a group of successful entrepreneurs, they'll judge a contest to find the best new app for Chicago.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name is Berkshire Audubon (ph). I'm going to be a senior at MIT, studying electro-engineering and computer science.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I study computer science at the California Institute of Technology.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I go to the University of Texas at Austin, and I study computer science and logistics.

EMANUEL: Oh, my God, I feel so dumb. I'm Rahm Emanuel, and I got a degree in liberal arts education. Can we get somebody else to come up here? I need to go to a self-help group. Oh, my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the city packed with tourists, police are working overtime to make sure they keep a lid on violence. But some aldermen complain about the $100 million in extra overtime.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, guys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there's also folks out there questioning McCarthy's controversial stop-and-frisk tactics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Superintendent Garry McCarthy is in the building, and you can call him directly if you have a question or a comment.

Natalie, good morning. You're on B-103.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (via phone): But all I ever hear from you guys is this gang violence and this is bad parenting. And that offends me as a black mother. It's not just about bad parenting. Suspension rates, stop-and-frisk...

MCCARTHY: I've been talking about poverty, education, the breakup of the family unit from day one as root causes of crime. I don't even know what to say, because we keep talking about it. So it sounds like she's upset about it. I'm curious what her solutions are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Liz's solution for Jason is to get him in a halfway house far away from Roseland in the North Lawndale neighborhood.

DOZIER: What was a kid like him going to do? You know what I'm saying? Like, your face is tatted up. You have a record. Who else is going to really help him?

I'm Liz Dozier. Nice to meet you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Take the straw out of your mouth. Stand in front of the camera, please. What's your name?

BARRETT: Jason Barrett.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You've got to speak up.

BARRETT: Jason Barrett.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The rules and regulations is in this packet. Yes, this is a schedule that you have to abide by. And yes, we do have a curfew.

DOZIER: My dad was homeless for, like, 12 years. So this is, like, an issue that's very close to my own heart. And so I totally know something like this can really change the course of, like, someone's life. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to Safe Haven. OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Liz still keeps in touch with her father, but she's especially close with her mom.

DOZIER: Ready?

My mom is very like independent, really prides herself on that. She was a teacher from the time she was in the convent until she retired two years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You were teaching a math class in seventh or eighth graders, OK? And you bent down...

DOZIER: How do you know this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because it was -- it went through the whole school. What do you mean how do I know? The whole school was talking about it. The kids were like, "Oh, Ms. Dozier, you're wearing a thong."

DOZIER: I don't wear thongs, mom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I'm telling you this because it happened. You forgot it. I didn't forget that.

DOZIER: Mom, no. That was Mary; that was not me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, because...

DOZIER: I don't even wear thongs, Mom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Liz is very strong willed. She was pushed into this role of being a leader and taking the charge, because that's what she had to do. She helped me a lot.

DOZIER: You want half my cookie?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

I look at her now and I think, oh, my gosh, I can't believe it's my daughter. It just has amazed me where she is now.

DOZIER: Ready to hit the bricks?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When she started at Fenger, they were having shootings and things in the area. And she just said, "Mom, you know, if something happens to me, know that I died doing what I love to do."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We out here killing each other for nothing. Everybody feel like they hate each other for some reason. I hate you because you're wearing the wrong color. You got a job, and I don't got a job, so now I want to take from you. I don't think it should be taking and hurting nobody. But that's just the way life is right now. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's illegal to even sell spray paint in Chicago. But still there's a thriving graffiti scene here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is our own sort of reaction to the epidemic of gun violence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Graffiti writers like Paul and Kenwa (ph) once were outlaws. But now they get commissions like this one. They also mentor student artists who help paint the murals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is one of the most powerful art movements from youth culture in maybe our history.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All over the city, mentors are having a positive effect on kids.

EMANUEL: Are you working hard?

MARTELL COWAN, STUDENT: Yes.

EMANUEL: How did you get off? Anybody else working...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rahm encourages Martell to do more reading and studying so he can have a real shot at going to a good college.

EMANUEL: Are you good?

COWAN: I'm good, man. I'm just thankful for all the blessings you've been giving me.

EMANUEL: By the time I'm done promoting you, you're going to need an agent to make sure my younger brother represents you. This is all about...

COWAN: Focusing.

EMANUEL: You're focused. I want you to widen your horizons, see and experience other things, learn. And you know, there's nothing that's going to stop you. You've got it.

You know something? You're getting big. Have you noticed that? When I first met you, we were eye to eye. You're getting too big for me now.

COWAN: Before this, I didn't really have too many opportunities, but now people are trying to get me into universities. People want to write me recommendations and all other types of positive things.

EMANUEL: I love you. See you.

COWAN: It did change my life. A lot. I'm grateful for it.

CHARLES PERRY, COMMUNITY ORGANIZER: I graduated from selling marijuana to selling cocaine, and eventually in 1988, the feds came and got me, and they sentenced me to 25 years. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jason attends a community meeting led by Charles Perry, a former drug kingpin who served more than 20 years in prison. Now he runs a program to get jobs for ex-felons like Jason.

PERRY: When I came home and I looked at this community, the community that was thriving in the '80s, and to look at where it's at, look at our young people, I knew I had work to do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Charles got Jason a job interview, but Jason was a no-show.

PERRY: I mean, I get up early, come out of my way to pick you up out there, ain't no doorbell. I said, "Wait." I said, "I'm going to be how long it will be before he calls me from another number." I'm sitting there waiting on your call. You don't call.

BARRETT: My momma kept taking up the phone.

PERRY: Hey, bra, I understand all that. You should have called before she took it.

BARRETT: I feel like if I mess up this time, everything is just over for me. So I can't just let all this go down the drain. So this time I'm going to be ready.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Principal Dozier is upset. Jason not only blew his shot at getting a job, but he left the halfway house, too.

DOZIER: You know, we had him set up with the support. The counselors were willing to work with him. He just messed up and he didn't show up. And he just, like, blew it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When Jason shows up at Fenger, all Liz has left to give is tough love.

DOZIER: Sir, pull your pants up. Scan yourself in. You know, you've always been very special to me. I told you that when you were little Jason, four or five years ago.

BARRETT: Uh-huh.

DOZIER: I had you set up, Jason.

BARRETT: Yes, I'm...

DOZIER: Dude, set up. I was in a dorm room. I set you up. I was disappointed.

BARRETT: I wish I was (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

DOZIER: You missed that appointment with that guy, right? Why did you miss it? Tell the truth.

BARRETT: I woke up five minutes late.

DOZIER: Dude, you've got to step it up. Like, no, it's like I don't want to hear a no. You've got to step it up, because the reality is, you're getting ready to lose a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity on this nonsense.

BARRETT: I feel like I ain't got nothing, though.

DOZIER: They were offering you your own apartment. All your own stuff is gone.

I was so hurt, because I feel like I have a lot of hope for you. You know what I'm saying? I really want you -- I want you to do -- I want you to do so well.

Take care of business, because you know what? We're done. That's it. And I'm still going to love you just the same. I'm going to pray for you. But we can't offer you any more opportunities, because we have other people that want to take the opportunities. I can't. You know what I'm saying? It's over. It's done.

BARRETT: You going to give me a ride home?

DOZIER: No, you going to walk. That's a slow walk. You got business, you walk like this. See? See that pace? See that pace? People know you're about business. See, there you go.

It's just unfortunate. It's really unfortunate. An

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On his 20th birthday, chance decides to celebrate with one hell of a trip.

CHANCE THE RAPPER: I'm here with my best bud, about to hop out of a perfectly good airplane.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But his manager, Pat, he's not so sure about this idea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chance leaps onto the Lollapalooza stage and into the big time.

CHANCE THE RAPPER: Chicago, what the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) is wrong!

(MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Being a really established local artist going to the national platform. This time next year, Chance will be at the Grammys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is one of Lollapalooza's finest years. More than 300,000 people attended and there were only ten arrests. Not one violent incident.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd like to introduce the superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, Garry McCarthy.

MCCARTHY: I like that. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since the Fourth of July holiday, shootings and murders have slowed, especially in operation impact zones, where police focused on crime hot spots.

MCCARTHY: Shootings are down 48 percent. Murders are down 45 percent. And overall crime is down 29 percent.

EMANUEL: Having a reduction in shootings is significant. Having a reduction in homicides is significant. There's a level of safety that people can actual feel and perceive in their own community. Whether you live in Roseland or Ravenswood, whether you live in Woodlawn or Wildwood, whether you live in South Shore or Saginaw, parents feel their kids can walk to school, they can play out on the street and they can be out on the front porch. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The summer turned out to be safer for Chicago kids, and two things that really made a difference were police work and youth programs.

RODINOV: You have to spend too much time passing legislation and stuff.

EMANUEL: That's OK. But at night, I'm reading a biography now about a Latin American revolutionary leader. It's...

RODINOV: Simon Bolivar?

EMANUEL: Dude, excellent! Excellent! I read right before I go to bed for about an hour.

RODINOV: You've got to do it. You make the kids do it.

EMANUEL: Yes. You know, or I've got to make the kids do what I do, one way or the other. OK? All right, guys. Have fun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the mayor, there's an even bigger challenge ahead, when school starts in a few weeks.

Jason never got a job. Several weeks later, he was arrested for robbery and thrown back in jail.

DOZIER: I don't know if there is a point in which you give up on kids. We never forget, like, all those other kids. You know, they're just not here anymore for one reason or the other.

It's happened where kids have been here, you know, one day you're talking in the hallway and the next day they're just not.

Sometimes I pray. I think that, even when people die, like they're still here in some form or fashion.

One of my kids got shot in the head, and so I went to the hospital and before he died I was holding his hand and I was just telling him, you know, "It's going to be OK and you're going to be -- you know, it will be fine." But they're all, like -- but I asked him to, like, look out for us, because I think that when people pass on, they can help us. I want to make sure he, like, helps us, he like looks out for us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next on "Chicagoland"...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're all accountable to the children of the city of Chicago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Jesus' name, we bless the children that are going to school.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kids have been crossing gang lines for years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're not in their own territory. That's real scary for them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something happens, we'll be all over it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If anything were to go south, then we have to hit them with an ax.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are here to see the best of the best.

DOZIER: We don't get more kids in this building, we're going to lose positions.